I'm just starting to learn Japanese and I think it is really important that I have a good number of resources at my disposal. I've been looking at a lot of Japanese textbooks and came across Japanese for Busy People I: Romanized Version. I'm pretty much a complete beginner at Japanese. Does anyone know if this book is suited for a beginner?

Edit: Would Japanese for Young People I: Student Book be better suited for someone my age?

Cleodboi wrote:I'm just starting to learn Japanese and I think it is really important that I have a good number of resources at my disposal. I've been looking at a lot of Japanese textbooks and came across Japanese for Busy People I: Romanized Version. I'm pretty much a complete beginner at Japanese. Does anyone know if this book is suited for a beginner?

Edit: Would Japanese for Young People I: Student Book be better suited for someone my age?

What's your age?

I know a lot of people here like Genki, and my Japanese study group uses Mina No Nihongo for beginning students, so many of my friends have tried and liked it. Otherwise I'd say search the textbook threads and see what people have to say about each book.

Last edited by becki_kanou on Wed 08.27.2008 4:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I would not suggest the romanized version of JBP unless you have strong feelings that learning the writing system right at the beginning will be overwhelming for you. In most cases you will be better off starting with something that either uses Japanese characters entirely, or introduces them very soon near the start of the book.

As becki asked, it would help to know your age to know what to suggest.

Cleodboi wrote:..... I've been looking at a lot of Japanese textbooks and came across Japanese for Busy People I: Romanized Version. I'm pretty much a complete beginner at Japanese. Does anyone know if this book is suited for a beginner? ....

I used the Japanese for Busy People series in my Japanese course but I used the kana versions. This book is suitable for a complete beginner which is what I effectively was when I started using it. I would however recommend that you use the kana version in preference to the Romanised version but others on here have different views.

Last edited by chikara on Thu 08.28.2008 1:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

Don't complain to me that people kick you when you're down. It's your own fault for lying there

I used the kana version years ago... I didn't like it, it's hard to describe really but it felt too orientated towards older people or business people when I'm neither of those, it didn't include any kanji and it always felt like one big endless piece of text. It could be different by now of course, but I'm going to get Genki soon instead because after looking at a few different textbooks, Genki seems like it will suit me much better. I wouldn't say Japanese for Busy People is a bad textbook though, it seems to include more or less the same stuff as Genki, people just have different preferences and ways of learning.